JR West Hakubi Line, Niimi to Yonago

[Sacto1985]

YouTube member nimo5 just posted this interesting zenmen tenbou video of a trip from Niimi to Yonago on the Hakubi Line, taken from KiHa 120-358 on Train # 827D:

 

 

Because it was taken just very recently, there is still snow on the ground on much of the route. Note nimo5 shows the passing of the Yakumo limited express train several times, plus scenes from the freight yard next to Hoki-Daisen Station.

[marknewton]

I love the Hakubi line - thanks for posting this! :)

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[Sacto1985]

One thing that surprises me is why JR West is running the KiHa 120 DMU between Niimi and Yonago. There is 1,500 V DC catenary overhead power all the way on this route, and they do run occasional 115 Series EMU service between Niimi and Yonago (you saw such a train in this video). They could have run the 105 Series EMU, but the relatively low power of that EMU precludes using it on the Hakubi Line, especially with the much faster 381 Series limited express EMU's running on this line.

[kvp]

My guess it's overall cheaper for jrw to run a short light weight single car dmu than any longer emu-s, especially the older 115 series.

[Sacto1985]

My guess it's overall cheaper for jrw to run a short light weight single car dmu than any longer emu-s, especially the older 115 series.

 

That's what I think, too. Mostly because there is only enough passenger traffic to support a single-car DMU between Niimi and Yonago most of the year. Maybe during busier parts of the year, JR West may run multicar KiHa 120 trainsets or a two-car KiHa 40 trainset on this run. I do know that JR West runs a lot of KiHa 40 DMU's in 2-3 car trainsets between Yonago and Izumoshi on the San'in Main Line most of the year (I've seen those KiHa 40 trainsets start from Yonago and go as far west as Masuda, based on the many videos I've seen from nimo5).